We all know the drill by now: brand new core engine under the hood (Gecko 1.9), visual makeover, security enhancements, a revised download manager, full page zooming, a smart URL bar which learns from your browsing habits and claims of vastly quicker operation (over 100 per cent in many cases, notably Java) when compared to the already sprightly Firefox 2.

An equally long running side story is that Mozilla is attempting to break the World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours. Interestingly, while you may think this is stupidity beyond belief when compared to Microsoft Windows Service Pack updates and the like, the relatively small size of Firefox 3 could actually give it the edge.

Sadly, not to be a party pooper but there is no official World Record for this since no company has asked the Guinness World Record team to inspect download logs before – but hey, gotta start somewhere.

”’Update 18:10:”’ The final total is in at over 7.7 million! Extremely impressive, well done guys n gals. For the record the total downloads box is still running but unless the exact launch time yesterday slipped outside 18:00 GMT we believe this to now be outside the official 24 hour World Record time limit.

”’Update 18:25:”’ Hmmmmn, appears Mozilla is saying we have until 19:15 (I don’t remember it launching that late) – let’s see how this pans out. 8m+ could be on…

”’Update 19:35:”’ That total is now in: ”8,419,496” – a stunning performance. Guinness approval is said to take a few days. Beat that rivals!

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